


The One with Chuck Heston

by mcgarrygirl78



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: F/M, Humor, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-11
Updated: 2014-10-11
Packaged: 2018-02-20 17:29:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2436965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcgarrygirl78/pseuds/mcgarrygirl78
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“If loving you was all that I had to do then it would be easy.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	The One with Chuck Heston

**Author's Note:**

> This is regular ol’ Hotch and Prentiss, at least my regular Hotch and Prentiss. Lots of people ask me about the rules, every time I write a story about one or more of them. Well here’s another one…don’t kill me. I only know what I'm told.

Hotch woke with a start, drowsy eyes taking in the room around him. He shut his eyes tight and opened them again. Turning his head to the left, Hotch could see rain sliding down the bedroom window. He also looked at his sleeping companion. He moved onto his side, spooned behind her, and kissed her shoulder. Emily stirred in his arms.

“Emily? Em, baby, wake up. C'mon, baby, I need to talk to you.”

She mumbled something incoherent, moving away from him. Emily didn’t like to wake up. She was used to mornings, had come to a tentative agreement that as long as they respected her she would respect them, but it wasn’t morning. Even struggling to hold onto sleep, Emily knew it wasn’t morning. There were no alarms, no screaming, and she didn’t smell smoke. What could he possibly want? What could he want on her first night of real sleep after 13 nights on the road?

“Go away.” She managed to growl as Hotch continued to nudge. She loved the man but he was skating on thin ice. He probably didn’t know that but ignorance was no excuse.

“Emily, wake up. I need to talk to you about something important.”

“What is it, Aaron?” She turned over on her back, glaring at him as best she could with drowsy eyes. The room was dark…it wasn’t even close to morning.

“It came to me in a dream.” He said.

“Huh?” Emily yawned and rubbed her eyes.

“It came to me in a dream, Em; I know what we’re going to do about it.”

“About what? And your next response better not lead to more questions. Just tell me what you're talking about.”

“We’ve both been concerned about balancing our professional relationship with our changing personal relationship. It’s the elephant in the room.”

“It’s not the only one.” Emily muttered.

The signature on Hotch's uncontested divorce was barely dry and they were knee deep in…something. Some days Emily thought she had a handle on it. Others it was like free falling through space. Starting a relationship had its own set of challenges; anyone trying to knew that. If you added the plethora of asterisks that Hotch and Emily had between the two of them, it bordered on ridiculous. This was, unfortunately, about much more than two people with a growing affection for one another. If only it were that simple.

“I know what we’re going to do, baby,” He said. “It came to me in a dream.”

“Oh dear God,” She rolled her eyes.

“Just bear with me, alright?”

Emily nodded, lying back on the pillows. She willed herself to stay awake and pay attention. He was damn lucky she had a strong will.

“I was traveling through the desert. I don’t know where I was or what I was looking for but I was hot, tired, and thirsty. Soon enough I stumbled onto this tent. I announced myself and…”

“Announced yourself?”

“I announced myself as an FBI Agent and entered the tent. There was just one man inside…it was Charlton Heston.”

“I'm sorry?” Emily tried but failed not to laugh. “Charlton Heston?”

“Yes. He said I was looking for him because he had the answers I sought.”

“What did you eat or drink before bed, honey?”

“Nothing.” Hotch replied. “I had no idea what he was talking about but he offered me tea. Then he walked away and came back with two tablets. I asked what they were and he said The Ten Commandments. He said this was the way for us to finally balance our relationship.”

“Um…what?”

“Ten rules, Emily. We come up with ten rules that we do not violate. They become the cornerstone of our relationship.”

“Charlton Heston gave you this idea?” She asked.

“I can hear the sarcasm in your voice.”

“Honey, I'm really trying.” Emily caressed his face. “But its o’dark thirty and you wake me up to tell me that Charlton Heston gave you tea and commandments. Put yourself in my shoes.”

“He didn’t give me commandments; he gave me the idea for commandments. I really prefer the term rules though. No party will incur the wrath of God if they are broken.”

“Well I'm really glad that he was able to help.” She kissed his lips. “Goodnight, Hotch.”

“We can't go to sleep yet.” He replied.

“Why not?”

“We need to come up with the rules. This is important…this dream meant something.”

It meant he was nuts, Emily thought as Hotch jumped out of bed. He grabbed the yellow legal pad and pen from his desk. Back in bed, he turned on the lamp. Emily squinted against the light. She was finally able to see the alarm clock; 3:24am. She groaned.

“Aaron, it’s too late, surely we can do this tomorrow. I think it might be easier over pancakes.”

“This is really important. It’s important to you, isn’t it Emily?”

“Don’t do that. You know it’s important to me.” She sighed. “Alright, fine, we’ll do the first half now and the second half in the morning. Agreed?”

“Agreed; thank you.”

“You're welcome. You come up with the first one.”

“Rule #1, professionalism shall be maintained at all times in the field.” Hotch scribbled it down. “Hotch and Prentiss are teammates, not lovers.”

“Rule #2,” Emily said. “Honesty, always…lies are a deal breaker. Even if the truth hurts its better than a lie.”

“Rule #3, at Quantico professional distance shall always be maintained.”

“That’s the same as rule #1, Hotch.”

“No, its not.”

“Yes, it is. Its like Rule #1, Subsection A. It shouldn’t be another separate rule.”

“Yes, it should.” Hotch nodded.

Everyone knew that plenty of agents all but ignored the ‘no fraternization’ rule. Being a professional usually came first; particularly in the field, but at Quantico people all but forgot about boundaries. He thought of Garcia and Kevin. Yes, they were perfect for each other, and Hotch was very happy for Penelope, but that didn’t mean behaving like a couple at the “office” was good for everyone. It was especially tricky when one-half of the couple was the boss. Hotch needed to lead by example…he needed to always be Hotch. It had to be that way if it was going to work. Hell, soon enough all those profilers would put two and two together. Neither he nor Emily needed to give them any ammunition for their firearms.

“Rule #3 stays.” He said firmly.

“Fine, I refuse to argue at three in the morning. It can stay.”

“You come up with Rule #4.”

“I’ll do that…in the morning. Seriously, Hotch, I'm really tired and I'm going to bed now.”

“We’re already awake though.” He reasoned.

“That wasn’t my choice.” Emily grumbled. “Why do we have to do this right now?”

“We have to do this because I live by rules.”

“We all do.”

“Yeah, but…”

“What?” Emily asked. “What's the matter, seriously?”

“It’s hard when I'm not sure what to say; not sure what to do. I've never done this before and I feel, sometimes, that I need a foundation or the ground’s going to crumble beneath my feet. I'm sorry that I woke you but this has kept me awake so many nights. If loving you was all I had to do then it would be easy.”

“That is all you have to do.”

“No,” Hotch shook his head. “Its not, and you know that. I have to be your boss. I have to be a lot of people’s boss. I have to lead the team, I have to lead the Unit, and I have to deal with Erin Strauss. I have to be a mother, father, big brother, adversary, the voice of reason, and also the bastard. I have to raise my son and try to have more than a strained conversation with my ex-wife. It’s a lot to carry and right now, until we do these rules, I'm unsure how to keep it all in check.”

Emily was quiet for a while. Hotch wasn’t the only one who didn’t always know which way was up. She couldn’t pretend to be juggling all the same things he was but that didn’t mean she wasn’t walking a high wire. What they had, what they were trying to have, was supposed to be good. It would be good when nothing else was. If it couldn’t be then it was better to quit before they got in deeper. If all Hotch needed to set his mind at ease were rules and regulations, Emily could do that.

“Rule #4, Hotch and Prentiss aren’t allowed in the bedroom. Aaron and Emily never go to bed angry.” She said.

“Thank you, baby,” He kissed her nose.

“Anything that’s important to you is important to me, always. Even at three o’clock in the damn morning.”

“Just one more rule and its bedtime. Rule #5, talk to me. Tell me your insignificant thoughts, life-changing decisions, and everything in between. Communication is critical to making a relationship work. I don’t want to find out how you feel about things from someone else.”

“I don’t want that either; that’s a good rule to have.”

“They're all good rules.” Hotch put the pen and pad on the nightstand and turned out the lamp. “We’ll finish the second half in the morning. It’s time to go back to sleep.”

“Oh thank God.” Emily laughed some, finally letting herself relax. She sighed when Hotch wrapped his arms around her.

“I’ll make it up to you.” He whispered, kissing her temple as he held her close.

“What?”

“I’ll make it up to you for waking you in the middle of the night. I know how precious sleep is to you, Emily.”

“You're precious to me too. At least tomorrow is Sunday. If I actually had to be at my desk by 7:30am there might have been a serious misunderstanding.”

“I’ll make it up to you.” Hotch repeated, kissing her again.

“I'm all ears.”

“Go to sleep, baby. We’ll talk about it tomorrow; cross my heart.”

“And hope to die…stick a needle in your eye.” Emily replied giggling.

“OK, now you're just delirious.”

“You have a dream about having tea with Chuck Heston and I'm delirious?”

“I love you, Em.”

“I love you too.” She gave him a kiss. “Goodnight…again,”

“Sweet dreams, baby.”

***

  



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